Barcelona and Real Madrid have one of the most intense rivalries in club soccer, dubbed El Clasico, due to historical, cultural, and philosophical reasons.

One of the most intense rivalries in the world of sports, let alone in the world of professional football, is the one between Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. The rivalry, dubbed El Clasico is viciously contested due to both historic and philosophical reasons; the two are the largest cities in Spain, with Madrid represents the Castilian empire of Spain and nationalism, while, generally speaking, Barcelona has come to carry the flag of Catalanism.

Post Spanish Civil War

During the dictatorship of Franco, Madrid became representative of conservatism while Barcelona became even more symbolic of progressivism. While history and culture have a lot to do with the reasons for such a fierce rivalry, in modern times, it has been a question of footballing philosophy that has separated the two clubs.Galacticos

Since the initial arrival of current club president Florentino Perez, Real Madrid has adopted a “galacticos” policy, essentially meaning that the administration will spend and spend on the world’s biggest stars, such as Luis Figo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Kaka, and Cristiano Ronaldo, to try to build a great team. This transfer policy has provided success for Real Madrid in terms of trophies, finances, and especially world marketing.

However, more recently, the club has failed to win the titles it is expected to, as players are signed based not on their form, but their reputation. Team chemistry is another issue that became increasingly problematic with the galacticos era in the capital city, as it is always difficult to balance superstar egos. The team is littered with great players, but the collective mentality is not there, as demonstrated by the humiliating 0-4 defeat to third tier side Alcorcon earlier this season.The Beautiful GameFC Barcelona takes an entirely different approach to football. Johan Cryuff implanted the Dutch concept of “total football” when he was manager, and Barca have played with that philosophy ever since. Every player on the squad can essentially do everything, and in the beautiful version of the game, this means attacking.The free-flowing, fluid, fast manner in which they play leads to some of the most remarkable poetic displays of football that show it to be not only a sport, but an art form as well. As far as transfer policy goes, while the emphasis in the club is on producing homegrown Catalan talent through their youth academy, they are not averse to spending big, albeit many of their stars realize their true potential after joining the club.

It appears, in today’s game at least, that Barcelona’s ideologies are more suited to achieving success at the domestic and international club level, as shown by their astonishing six victorious tournaments last season, while Madrid’s seem more suited for jersey sales and marketing success. With all of their individual talent, Real Madrid can certainly compete with any club in the world, but if the past few years have shown us anything, it is that today, it is team chemistry and mentality that decides champions.There are certainly individual superstars (Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney sometimes seem to single handedly win games) but to achieve the kind of success that makes for legends, the entire team must buy into the system and philosophy of the beautiful game.

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